FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are Carolina League champions, completing an undefeated postseason run with a 7-4 victory over the Charleston RiverDogs at Segra Stadium.
The Woodpeckers clinched the best-of-three championship series in two games, winning the title in front of their hometown crowd Tuesday night after opening the series with a dominant 14-4 victory in Charleston.
The championship is the first for the franchise since becoming the Fayetteville Woodpeckers and the first Minor League Baseball championship won by a Fayetteville team in 70 years.
Fayetteville wasted little time taking control of the championship-clinching game.
Kam Durnin opened the bottom of the first inning with a double, Kevin Alvarez followed with a single and Owen Nowak drew a walk to load the bases.
Ben Tryon then delivered one of the biggest swings of the season, hitting a grand slam to right field and giving Fayetteville an early 4-0 lead.
Starting pitcher Juan Friade protected the advantage with five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
Charleston cut the lead to 4-1 in the sixth, but Fayetteville answered with three runs in the seventh. Alvarez drove in two with a bases-loaded single before Waner Luciano brought home another run to extend the Woodpeckers’ lead to 7-1.
The RiverDogs continued to fight, scoring in the eighth before Dean Moss hit a two-run home run in the ninth to make it 7-4.
Brandon Cassedy closed the door from there, recording the final outs and securing the Carolina League championship for Fayetteville.
The victory completed a perfect 4-0 postseason for the Woodpeckers.
Fayetteville reached the championship series by sweeping the Fredericksburg Nationals in the North Division Championship Series. The Woodpeckers then traveled to Charleston and scored 10 runs in the second inning of Game 1 on the way to a 14-4 victory.
That put Fayetteville one win away from a championship as the series shifted back to Segra Stadium.
The Woodpeckers never needed a third game.
Fayetteville finished the regular season 71-58 before sweeping both of its postseason opponents.
The title also carries some unusual franchise history.
The organization previously won the Carolina League championship in 2018 as the Buies Creek Astros while playing its home games at Campbell University. That team was serving as a temporary stop for the Houston Astros’ Carolina League affiliate while Segra Stadium was being developed in downtown Fayetteville.
The franchise moved into Fayetteville in 2019 and became the Woodpeckers.
Tuesday’s victory therefore marks the first championship under the Fayetteville Woodpeckers identity.
It also ends a much longer championship drought for professional baseball in the city. The last Fayetteville team to win a Minor League Baseball league championship was the Fayetteville Highlanders in 1956, when the club captured the Class B Carolina League championship as a Cleveland Indians affiliate.
Seventy years later, a professional baseball championship belongs to Fayetteville again.
The Woodpeckers will begin their title defense in April 2027.
Kres Thomas, FayToday News
kresthomas@faytoday.com.
